brushes.paints.stencils.

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Dr. Woohoo’s new blog.

I am in a great place creatively – outputting an incredible amount of artwork lately using a wide range of techniques, in a variety of different formats on all different types of substrates. During this process, I have tapped more and more into 3rd party services that can either create and/or distribute the artwork by laser-cutting/etching it from companies like Ponoko; or that can create my tools like laser-etched wood-cutting blocks and rubber stamps; to DIY book manufacturers like Blurb; my artwork on minicards, stickers postcards, greeting cards, and NoteCards via Moo; and finally screen-printing, local cnc-milling and glass-casting companies.

Because of all this activity I don’t believe my previous website would not be able to accommodate it well – along with other usability issues – so I decided to redo it. During my research phase for the new site, it had been a long time since I looked closely at WordPress, so I gave it another peak and I was surprised by how well I could integrate all of my creative endeavors.

Makes sense so far… update the website using WordPress so that it’s easier to manage, has better usability, etc. etc. But what about my other 2 blogs: In The Mod & bps (brushes.paints.stencils.)? After going back and forth on this… I’ve decided to combine them all into the new blog. I will create a new tag for each one in case you only want to follow updates in those categories.

Now it’s time to get back to creating… thanks for tuning in.
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Woohoo!
Drew

What Hope looks like as a panoramic photo, courtesy of the NY Times, originally posted by John Nack.

Night Falls is now available on itunes and emusic!

night falls. cd. hymen ¥767 ($9.99 US) at iTunes

night falls. cd. hymen ¥767 ($9.99 US) at emusic

Baby Tattooville, Oct. 3-5, 2008, Mission Inn and Spa, Riverside, CA

Some of my favorite artists will be featured this year including Ana Bagayan, Glenn Barr, Dave Cooper, Bob Dob, Joe Ledbetter, Brandi Milne, Daniel Peacock, Shag, Amy Sol and Michael Whelan.

Baby Tattooville provides a unique opportunity for a small group of celebrated artists and serious collectors to spend time together in a relaxed yet creatively stimulating environment. Without the time constraints of a typical personal appearance, or the crowd control issues of a standing-room-only event, artists and collectors will have a weekend-long opportunity to discuss and explore their mutual interests. Original work will be created and celebrated around-the-clock. No one will leave empty handed. Only 50 event packages are being offered. www.babytattooville.com

In addition, there will be an art show, Beyond Baby Tattooville, being held in conjunction with Baby Tattooville. It will include works from this and last year’s featured artists and include a reception on Oct. 4, 2008 at the Riverside Art Museum.

If you’re interested, you better hurry because the last time I checked, there was only 16 more slots open for registration!

For my dandelion series, after stretching, post-coating and hanging them on the wall… I imagined the dandelions breaking from the 2d plane and flying off to the side. I saw them stuck to the wall at first and then they leaped for their freedom.

At first I thought of 3d stained glass piece, but the neck of the seeds on each dandelion is too narrow and the curves are too wicked to cut without breaking the glass. That’s where Ponoko came to the rescue.

Ponoko is a service that allows you to upload your EPS files for laser cutting and etching on a variety of media, sizes and colors. I loved how easy they spell out the process and they can cut acrylic which was ideal for my purposes because it has a glass like quality, reflecting light, transparent and it’s strong enough to handle the crazy thin neck on each seed.

Prepping the outlines

To get from my 3d nurb to an outline of the object(s) in an EPS file, I rendered a high-res TIFF with alpha out of Maya (left image) and opened that file in Photoshop. In Photoshop, I loaded the selection of the alpha and converted that to a path (middle image). I then exported that path (File > Export > Paths to Illustrator) as an AI file and opened that file in Illustrator (right image). After making sure all of my paths were closed, with the correct stroke width and color – as defined by Ponoko, I moved on to the next step.

Working with the template and uploading

Ponoko has a variety of templates that you can download, based on the size of the material you are using, that help make sure your paths fall within the proper cutting and etching area. In my first attempt at laying out the paths, I did not populate the area to the maximize amount and thanks to Dan Emery at Ponoko, he enlightened me to making the most out of the space (middle image). After the layout was complete, I simply uploaded the piece. It really was extremely easy.

Waiting for the mailman

Here’s where it gets really exciting. Ponoko sends you a series of 5 email messages keeping you up-to-date in regards to where the process is (left image). After a short amount of time, I received a package with yippeeeee! on it, which seriously corresponded to how I felt at that moment [although ‘woohoo!’ would work as well. hehe.]. All of the cut objects are still contained in the sheet, wrapped on both sides with a protective cover (right image). It was simply a matter of pushing them out and taking the protective wrapping off of both sides (as I watched Phelps swim past his competition).

Adding color

To add that extra bit of magic, I imagined each seed would have the color found in the original image, with the sunlight casting a colored shadow on the wall. To achieve this effect, I printed a rendered colored version on a transparent sheet of film with HP Vivera inks and transferred those to each seed. In this image you can see a series of the seeds waiting to be joined.

Final images, blowing in the wind

Now available at Dr. Woohoo’s showroom on Ponoko.

Color Visualizations: Exploring the Circle, vol 02 by Dr. Woohoo!
New Mexico’s finest – In search of the perfect color palette, Dr. Woohoo’s artwork explores the visualization of colors. Woohoo uses software he developed to generate his artwork by extracting millions of color pixels in each image, analyzing and organizing the color data and then building the composition with absolute precision. Embracing the past, Woohoo uses archival pigment inks when printing the 16 x 10″ (40.64 x 25.4 cm) single editions onto art-, rice- and japanese papers using a variety of techniques including underprinting, overprinting and gelatin transfers onto frescos. The book includes over 100 new pieces, a discussion on color between Dr. Woohoo and Darius A Monsef IV, founder of COLOURlovers, and a secret web address that enables you to enter a private gallery that displays the final prints, special editions, as well as the opportunity to purchase the single editions.

10 x 8 in. (25×20 centimeters), 114 pages
Softcover: $44.95
Hardcover, Dust Jacket: $62.95
Hardcover, ImageWrap: $66.95

The first 50 buyers who purchase the book directly from me will receive a limited-edition signed print. To get the free signed print 1) send me an email 2) with your mailing address and 3) your shipping preference to sales@drwoohoo.com and I will send you the PayPal invoice via email with the included shipping charges. In addition to PayPal payments, major credit cards are accepted.

If you would rather bypass the limited-edition signed print and purchase the book now, you can do so here.

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Collaboration with the Ronin. Showing the before & after process of the color analysis and visualization.

iced honey chai

a moment of serene perfection

aloof tranquility

captivatingly enraptured

There is this cool online marketplace, Etsy, and I finally got around to putting some of my prints for sale in my shop.

If you’re interested, feel free to drop in and take a peak at what’s available and definitely check out Etsy if you have not had the pleasure yet – it’s a great marketplace.

agua medusae v2.
signed, unique print (1 of 1)
archival inks on canvas
3 x 6′ (91.44 x 182.88 cm) each canvas
$3,500 (US dollars)
available for purchase here.

black larvae.
signed, unique print (1 of 1)
archival inks on canvas
3 x 6′ (91.44 x 182.88 cm) each canvas
$3,500 (US dollars)
available for purchase here.

Word Combinatorics

Originally uploaded by Dr Woohoo.

I’m in the process of creating a few hundred new color analytic/visualization, single-edition prints (on art-, rice- and japanese paper) and I’m faced with an interesting challenge – naming them. In and around 1992 when I was in college and working on finding relationships between words, color and emotions, I created an all inclusive list of wonderfully emotive words. Saved on a 5 1/4″ floppy they stayed there until the late ’90s when I copied them over to a cd – but they remained dormant.

Playing off of the algebraic and color combinatorics algorithms I originally wrote in MATLAB, I decided to connect the dots between String Combinatorics and my old list. In the top field, I define how many sets of words I would like, from 1-10. I then enter the words I would like to be included in the generated title or tag. Clicking on Get Results generates all possible combinations of the source words, with each variation limited to the # of sets defined (eg., 2 words per variation).

Why combinatorics? I love the end results of the algorithms because they go beyond randomness – they are systematic to the point of insanity – which compliments my nature of being thorough.

Here are a few photos courtesy of Dan Emery from the incredible laser cutting and etching company Ponoko displaying the laser cut seeds from my dandelion series. I won’t give away what the end objective is with these pieces, but as the process evolves, I will continue to post updates here.